New York Times, Thursday, November 12, 2020

This puzzle started with 61-Across and I worked from there. I originally had a couple different theme answers that Will asked me to change. After some tweaking, I was able to work in some new theme answers, and this is the result. I'm so happy I able to get 7-Down into the grid. I love that song, and "Songs in the Key of Life" is a masterpiece.

Will changed a few of my clues to make the puzzle a little trickier, but as a Yankees fan, I was a little sad that he changed my original clue for 27-Down which was "Disgraced Houston ballplayer." It's probably for the best that he did. I hope you enjoy the puzzle!

To be, or not to be … well, there is no question. The famous quote has been played upon over and over and over, not to mention time and time again outside the NYT. There have also been a number of double-letter homophone themes, the most recent only last week.

However, there's usually room for interesting combinations of already-done themes, and Kristian produced a different spin: TO (letter homophone) = 2x that letter, i.e. TO A SKYLARK = AA SKYLARK. I'm tired of plays on TO BE OR NOT TO BE these days, but that phrase made for a perfect end to this theme. How apt is it that a doubled homophone letter theme has a double-double grand finale!

I did wonder about TO A SKYLARK. That is a famous poem (or so my more eddicated friends tell me), but it didn't provide the same kind of click as the others. Perhaps because TO A began the phrase, making it harder to figure out? With so many ___ TO A ___ phrases out there, I'd have much preferred one that made the a-ha sharper.

Interesting that today marks the second instance of SERE this week. It's much more passable in a late-week puzzle since most Thursday solvers will at least have seen the word, but it's still undesirable, to say the least.

I don't mind ALAI, since Jai ALAI is incredibly popular in some countries (and cities). It does point to how subjective this all is, though.

I enjoyed PLUGS AWAY so much as a bonus that I might even have accepted SERE as a price for it. However, this is a case where you can have your cake and eat it, too — I bet a cheater square in that upper right corner would have made that possible. A different long bonus than PLUGS AWAY might have been just as good, too, and made for friendlier letter patterns to work around.

Given how well-trodden these two theme types have been, I'd have liked something even more to elevate the solve — perhaps always having the two letters in the middle of the phrase or presenting them in alphabetical order? — but I did appreciate the consistency of always playing on a TO phrase (not using TOO, say).